Zuluhed the Whacked
Zuluhed the Whacked was one of the few remaining orc shamans within the Old Horde in Azeroth, but due to his consumption of the blood of Mannoroth, he did not embrace his true heritage and still practiced the dark magics prescribed by Gul'dan and the Shadow Council. Unlike his other Dragonmaw orcs he did not become a fel orc. Biography Zuluhed was apparently the last, and only shaman to accompany the Horde.Tides of Darkness, 39. He was eternally loyal to Blackhand during his reign as Warchief, and wished to remain so even after his death, so he pledged the allegiance of the small but powerful Dragonmaw Clan to Rend and Maim, the sons of Blackhand: an alliance assumed to be broken when Rend pledged the Black Tooth Grin clan to Nefarian's black dragonflight, most feared enemy of the Dragonmaw. During the Second War, Zuluhed received a vision of a powerful artifact hidden within the Redridge Mountains, and requested permission from Orgrim Doomhammer to locate it. Despite Zuluhed's apparent loyalty to the sons of Blackhand — his chief rivals — Doomhammer believed that the elder shaman acted in the Horde's best interests, and agreed to allow Zuluhed and his clan to find the artifact in question. Following the source of his visions, Zuluhed came into possession of what he called the Demon Soul.Tides of Darkness, 40. He assured Doomhammer that he would be able to unlock its powers, but this proved difficult even with the still-formidable powers of the elder shaman. Zuluhed decided to give the artifact to his Second, Nekros Skullcrusher, a former warlock, and with its power managed to capture the dragonqueen, Alexstrasza, and subjugate her red dragonflight. Alexstrasza, threatened with the death of her children, unwillingly gave the Horde an endless supply of her deadly progeny.Day of the Dragon, 53.Tides of Darkness, 137-45. At some point Zuluhed returned through the Dark Portal to Draenor, and thus was not present when Alextrasza was freed and the majority of his clan destroyed at Grim Batol. He eventually pledged what remained of his clan to Illidan and enslaved Karynaku, matriarch of the Netherwing dragonflight, to provide drakes for his new master. Death Golluck Rockfist, the Horde ambassador to the Wyrmrest Accord, mentions the Dragonmaw's enslaving of Alexstrasza. He says "Zuluhed and Nekros are dead, but the debt we owe to the reds is far from repaid." This seems to indicate that he was killed by allies of the Netherwing dragonflight, as requested by Karynaku in . Speculation In Day of the Dragon, Nekros states that he answers only to Zuluhed, who is "far away," with the bulk of the Dragonmaw forces and later attempts to march to meet with his chieftan implying that Zuluhed is still on Azeroth. This would be impossible, as the Dark Portal had already been closed by this point and Zuluhed is later revealed to have been in Outland. Nekros was likely simply mistaken, something quite likely as he mentions more than once he had been unable to reach Zuluhed for orders. It is also unclear how the shamanistic spirits continued to answer him, despite having forsaken most of the orcs, although this may explain why he appears to be a warlock when encountered at Dragonmaw Fortress. The Burning Crusade Zuluhed resides at Dragonmaw Fortress, east of the Netherwing Fields in Shadowmoon Valley, and is involved in the Netherwing quest chain. Fight Once you accept from Karynaku, Zuluhed the Whacked will appear by the entrance to the courtyard you're in along with 8 archers along the top wall. You can reset the quest by flying/jumping off the ledge. Zuluhed will despawn and you have to abandon the quest and reaccept. The right side room has some "back rooms" in it; running into those back rooms will also reset Zuluhed (but not his summoned demons). Easiest way to complete it is to get a cookie cutter group of a tank, healer, and 3 dps classes. It's easier to fly up to the courtyard, but you can also clear your way up the path. Clear out one of the rooms either to the left or right of the entrance, then accept the quest and have all of your group run into the room and start the fight. About 30 seconds into the fight, he starts to summon Arcubus Destroyer a level 68 elite demon. His summon spell is has a half-second casting time so it's hard to interrupt. After 15 seconds, the demon will spawn and you have to deal with it as well. If you clear both rooms, once he starts casting the summon, run into the other room. Zuluhed will follow, but the demon, being in an empty room, will not aggro and can be ignored. Just stay away from the door to that room. Unlike Zuluhed, the Arcubus Destroyer does not automatically attack the party. It simply appears and sits there, not moving. Its aggro rules are the same as an ordinary spawn -- it will not aggro for the first few seconds of appearing, and then only if a player steps within aggro radius. That is quite small for a level 80 player, so one solo strategy is to stay in the same room but simply take a few steps back. If undisturbed, the Arcubus Destroyer will sit passively even after Zuluhed falls, and will despawn after three or four minutes. The archers are a serious threat. Many will start casting Aimed Shot, which has a long (over 3 second) cast but hits for over 1000 on level 80 plate blues. This will quickly cut down a player or party who dwells out in the open or stands too close to a door. Zuluhed also casts Rain of Fire which hits for about 1000 per tick. It has a very small radius. If you are trying to solo this at 80, some classes can find this very difficult. The main threats are the archers, the demons and his Rain of Fire. To avoid the archers, clear a room in advance and run inside it before the fight begins - Zuluhed will come to you. Immediately step out of any Rain of Fire. Even with quick stepping, most of your damage will be fire. When an Arcubus Destroyer spawns, quickly step back out of its aggro radius. For a level 80, the rightmost room has enough space for at least two demons to spawn and still be well out of their aggro radius. Don't end up near the doorway. (Preferably have the demons spawn nearer the doorway so you can run into the back room to reset the encounter if need be.) The instant Zuluhed falls, loot the key. References External links Category:Orcs Category:Major characters Category:Named mobs Category:Dragonmaw clan Category:Illidari Category:Netherwing Dragonflight Category:Shadowmoon Valley mobs Category:World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness characters Category:Shamans Category:Warlocks fr:Zuluhed le Fourbu